Many different techniques exist for attempting to determine a location associated with a device. For example, location based on GPS, IP address, cell triangulation, proximity to Wi-Fi access points, proximity to beacon devices, or other techniques can be used to identify a location of a device. Given the desire to respect user privacy, device location may only be determined if a user provides consent. Any authorized sharing of user location data can be secure and private, and can be shared only if additional consent is provided. For many purposes, user identity associated with the location of a device can be configured in an anonymous manner such that user assistance and information related to a specific location can be provided without a need for user-specific information.
The locations reported by one or more devices can be raw location data. For example, the reported location can be a geocode that identifies a latitude and longitude. Therefore, such raw location data can fail to identify a name of the particular entity (e.g. the name of the restaurant, park, or other point of interest) that the user was visiting at the time. Systems exist for determining the semantic location of the user device. The semantic location can include the identity or name of the particular entity (e.g. the name of the particular restaurant, store, park, or other point of interest) the user carrying the device was located at a particular time. To determine semantic location, raw location data (e.g. geographic coordinates) can be compared to a database of information associated with known places (e.g. local businesses) to infer the most likely semantic location of the user.